May 7, 2008

Brunei and me

I was dreaming of going to Brunei the other night and waking up feeling eagerly desirous to visit that country. Suddenly running in much rejoice in Jerudong Park seems to be very real when I was granted a 2 days off. I called my best buddy Ethan and off we go!“Did you bring your Green Card with you? Cause you gonna need it to drive your car in Brunei.” Said Ethan.

Damn I have to spend another 40 minutes going back to my house and spent another 10 minutes or so to find that only-when-I-don’t-need-it-the-thing-would-appear Green Card. And why is it call Green Card in the first place when the colour is actually red?

2 hours later, we reached Sungai Tujuh Check Point and paid for the most ridiculous toll fee ever. RM10 per entry for normal family car! Talk about money. Its crazy yes, but it’s gonna be crazier to bitch around now and spend my 2 days off in a jail. That’s what I think lah…

Drivers in Brunei are amazingly gracious. It was almost funny to see how they will only use the right lane whenever they wanted to overtake another car. And they will always give way to pedestrians at the zebra crossings. It was definitely not the “lantak engkau” attitude like what we have here in Malaysia. I think we should learn something from them. Seriously! Malaysian government should impose a Visit Brunei Year campaign to improve our driving attitude.

I can say shopping is not the best thing to do in Brunei. But hey that’s not the end of the world. Brunei is equipped with tonne of other excitements. Let’s take Kampung Ayer for instance. And I am proud to say that I’ve been there. It’s almost amazing to see how these people live there, with almost no compound for their children to play around. But look at the bright side, I saw one old man fishing for crabs from his balcony. I mean that is fresh!!!

Maybe this is not significant, but Istana Nurul Iman? Where else in the world can you see the biggest gold dome made from 24K gold leaf? Too bad I can’t get inside. But I know it’s BIG! Brunei is definitely not London or Dubai. But Brunei has this special sexy appeal to it. I will definitely be coming back again. And this time with my bucuk. Siok kali ah!!!

P/s: They have to do something with the famous Jerudong Park. It was abandoned!

At Sungai Tujuh Check Point. It's time to stamp that passport baby!

Melepak at the Yayasan Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah Shopping Complex. The best in Brunei I think.